A Year of Everything but Rest

On October 6th, I was the CPO of Famcare and the founder of One Studio , our exploratory startup studio model. We were building on years of experience in tech management, product strategy, and parallel product launches with frameworks that balanced cost-sharing with product stability and privacy.

With most of our team based in Palestine, specifically Gaza, the events of October 7th left no room to breathe or process. Overnight, I was forced to:

• Secure the projects our team was working on.
• Find stable alternatives for those who lost their jobs.
• Provide minimal assistance to the team in Gaza.
• Create new opportunities for those who could manage to work again.

We had worked tirelessly in the months leading up to this tragedy, engaging with every part of Palestine’s entrepreneurial ecosystem to promote our studio model. We began seeing tangible success with key institutions, funders, and investment managers, while simultaneously exploring markets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

Then, everything came crashing down.

I faced the harsh reality of losing my stable income while investments in the studio were paused. It felt like the ground beneath me was giving way. But the sense of responsibility—coupled with the incredible support from my team—kept me going. Today, while I carry immense pain for what’s happening, I am deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished this past year:

? Ensuring the continuity of active projects by stabilizing thier teams, filling gaps through hiring, and providing mutual support—even at great personal cost. Despite losing key hires and partnerships, we proved our ethical commitment to these projects.

? Delivering more than five projects with a hybrid team of former colleagues and talented hires from the Egyptian market.

? Sustaining our generative AI project Fahman while forming a promising partnership to deploy it in the Libyan market as a stepping stone to larger markets.

? Exploring four impactful partnerships across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey, two of which we’ve finalized while developing innovative models with the other two.

Today, we’re on the path to restoring job stability for nearly 20 members of what was once a 50+ person family, with ambitions to reach 100. This may be short of our vision, but the team’s individual and collective achievements under these extraordinary circumstances are nothing short of remarkable.

I’m sharing this to express gratitude—to God, my team, and everyone who stood by us. I’m also reaching out to my network:

Starting next month, I’ll have more capacity for new collaborations—both personally as a Fractional CTO/CPO and through One Studio. We’re eager to engage in new partnerships or take on innovative projects, particularly in generative AI and cutting-edge tech.

If you’re looking for expertise, a driven partner, or just someone to discuss ideas with, let’s connect. Together, we can create something extraordinary.